A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 237 Imperial Speed

The construction teams building the railway in the Empire were very complex, and you could see dwarves, elves, and humans all gathered together.

Neither of the first two in the group had full Imperial citizenship: the dwarves were refugees after the war, the Arctic dwarves who had attempted to rebel against the Confederacy and, after their defeat, came to the Empire seeking refuge with much of their technology.

This included the construction and operation of railways, which His Majesty the Emperor and the Chancellor attached great importance to and immediately invested in laying them throughout the empire.

The elves, on the other hand, come from the island of El in Istani. They are different from their counterparts on other islands and the mainland. They are slightly shorter, and most of them have fiery red hair and not so white skin. They are called "grey elves".

The Grey Elves have made their living through agriculture for generations. However, the poor harvest on El Isle in recent years, coupled with the exploitation by the Kingdom of Istani, has forced many to smuggle themselves out of the country or leave for distant lands, as they are conscripted as laborers to build railways at low wages.

"Damn it, slacking off again! My grandma can swing a shovel faster than you, you lazy bum!" The dwarf overseer raised his big leather boot and kicked one of his fellow dwarves. Although they were all dwarves, they were naturally divided into different classes. Some worked with the grey elves, some were engineers with technical skills, and others were small contractors with a few subordinates.

The grey elves and dwarves laid pebbles together on the track bed, followed by the installation of sleepers and rails. The clanging of iron tools, stones, rivets, and other objects echoed through the mountains.

"Hey, don't kick him." A young human in a crisp military uniform was patrolling on horseback when he saw this scene. He frowned and stopped the overseer from continuing to beat and scold his fellow tribesman.

The foreman looked up and gave a fawning smile: "Sir, you don't know the nature of these lazybones. They only get to work efficiently when you beat and scold them, like a wind-up toy." As he spoke, he even made a winding motion, looking like a clown.

The soldier didn't appreciate the dwarf's obsequious performance; instead, he carefully observed the construction team's situation and took out his pocket watch to check the time: "Take a 15-minute break, let them drink water and relieve themselves."

"Take a 15-minute break!"

"rest!"

The dwarven overseer shouted, passing the orders down the chain of command. The construction workers who heard the commands felt as if they had been granted a pardon, especially the weaker grey elves, some of whom looked as if they might faint at any moment.

Clatter, clatter. A fast horse arrived at the railway, followed by another officer who gave the order: "Warrant Lieutenant Richard, there's a demolition operation ahead. Proceed to provide support immediately."

"Yes!" Richard glanced at the dwarf overseer before leaving, a look that sent a shiver down the man's spine.

The line currently under repair is a secret military line, built entirely by monitored "non-citizen" dwarves and elves, and completely controlled by the Imperial Army.

Because the train will be equipped with "secret weapons targeting the church," Richard was temporarily assigned to the construction team, and as a spellcaster, there were many situations where he was needed.

Ahead lies the edge of a valley, and at the end of the railway bridge under construction is a mountain, which undoubtedly requires the excavation of a tunnel.

A large amount of dwarven gunpowder was loaded into the pre-set blast holes, and Richard was ready to ignite it when he arrived.

"Report!" He arrived at the garrison's spellcaster's line. During the two months of construction, many tunnels needed to be dug, and the process had been finalized.

boom!

The hard rock layers in the mountain were broken open, and the mages used magic to support the collapsing soil and rocks. Another group of mages, under orders, inserted several steel frames into the top, working with the dwarven construction team to build the steel and wood arch as quickly as possible.

Next, the construction team secured the supporting structure and cleared away excess earth. The mages then cast a spell together, using the [Stone Shaping] spell to optimize the contact surface between the tunnel and the mountain, transforming the broken rocks into a unified wall.

This process was repeated three times. It was getting late, and the spellcaster needed to rest.

"Call to a halt. Tunnel No. 3 is not expected to be completed until tomorrow." The engineer stopped work after assessing the progress. Breaking through a hill in two days was an unimaginable speed even in Rorschach's previous life, but this project brought together a company of garrison mages, evolving into a magical version of infrastructure maniacs alongside the dwarven engineering team.

"Let's go back to the temporary camp." Richard's colleague called out. After finishing work and the meeting, it was their meal and rest time. If they went late, they would only get leftovers.

"Wait a minute, I need to go back to my section of work to check on the situation." Richard returned to the railway construction section behind him. The workers were eating and resting, and Richard focused on checking the remaining amount of strong liquor.

"They've had a long day and need some alcohol to relax. Make sure everyone gets their share, but don't over- or fraudulently claim any. Control their drinking and be careful to prevent the Grey Elves from getting drunk and causing trouble," Richard instructed his subordinates. Grey Elves, like dwarves, enjoy drinking, but their drinking capacity and behavior are generally terrible.

"Yes, Warrant Officer!"

The land of the Holy Kingdom was also shrouded in darkness. At this time, Rorschach was still in his laboratory outside the city, holding a bowl of cereal porridge with diced meat and fried eggs in his hand.

The others did the same; it wasn't that the Alchemy Department was too poor to afford a fancy meal, but rather that a one-pot meal was convenient and saved time. They were now both eating and holding meetings.

The venue was in a corner of the shed. Everyone was divided into two circles around a whiteboard. In the inner circle sat Luo Xia and a group of mages, as well as several former artillery academy teachers. In the outer circle, Andrei, his apprentices, and the engineers sent by the trading company were all eating while standing.

Rorschach joined because of his brilliant achievements in improving the steam engine.

The test of the signal beacon scheme has yielded results. Preliminary estimates suggest that at least 3,700 signal beacon towers will be needed to establish a communication system that connects all the major cities in the kingdom.

"This is unacceptable. The cost is almost one-third of the guild's teleportation array system, and the information transmission speed, capacity, and accuracy are far inferior to the teleportation array."

Although it was feasible in practice, the signal tower, which Rorschach called the "otherworldly RGB beacon tower," was quickly rejected.

"I think we can improve on the idea of ​​the oscillating crystal transmitter." Rorschach was thinking about how to inspire everyone in a more natural way, rather than just pulling out a "telegram" from a dimensional pocket like some round-headed, round-handed blue robot cat.

To explain to others outside the guild, Snow brought out two transceivers: "They were originally machines used to detect ether fluctuations, but we later realized they could also be used for communication."

Sure enough, as soon as a signal was emitted from one side, the oscillating crystal on the other side immediately began to vibrate slightly, producing a regular signal on the paper tape. The machine being demonstrated was different from the model seen in the secondary dimension, and seemed to be more sensitive and precise.

The instructors at the artillery academy were invigorated by this discovery.

The alchemist shook his head: "But what is something that, like ether, permeates the environment and is everywhere?"

"Air?"

"Air vibrations are sound waves, and that's enough for us to speak."

"Light?" "A special gas?"

Everyone brainstormed, and finally, Rorschach finished his porridge and said, "What if I told you that electricity and magnetism could also generate waves that can propagate through the environment?"

(End of this chapter)